Download Chapter 4: Reformation in Ireland

Chapter 4: Reformation in Ireland
Introduction
The 16th century was a period of great change not alone in Ireland but throughout Europe. It
was the time when the religious reform movement split the western Church, and created a
division among Christians which is still felt today. In Ireland, the split was keenly
experienced because the new English, the most recent settlers to arrive on our shores, adhered
to the new reforms, while the native Irish and many of the Anglo-Normans remained loyal to
Rome. This added another dimension to the mix of what it was to be Irish, but it also brought
strife and distrust which strained good relations between the peoples of Ireland down to the
present day.
The precise story of the Blessington area in the 16th century is not easy to unravel. But a
picture of the Archdiocese of Dublin in the context of what was happening in the country in
general throws light on the tribulations experienced by people at this time of intense political
and religious upheaval.
Reign of Henry VIII
Henry VIII
Henry VIII acceded to the throne of England in 1509 and reigned for
almost forty years. One legacy of his reign that particularly impacted
on Ireland was his break with Rome. This break was initiated by his
desire to obtain an annulment from his wife, Catherine of Aragon, to
clear the way for his marriage to Anne Boleyn. When the pope
refused, Henry declared himself Supreme Head of the Church in
1534, thus renouncing papal authority. Henry had little interest in
theological change and remained Catholic at heart and it was two of
his three children who succeeded him, Edward VI and Elizabeth 1,
who took up the reform ideas epitomised by Luther and Calvin that
swept through Europe at the beginning of the 16th century. Henry’s
rift with Rome, however, eased the way for them to introduce the
reformed liturgy as the state religion.
Another seminal change which began under Henry and was
completed by Elizabeth was the defeat of the Gaelic order.
Henry inherited the title ‘Lord of Ireland’, but effective
authority was exercised through the Anglo-Norman
dynasties. By the late 15th and early 16th centuries, power was
mainly centred on one family, namely the Fitzgeralds, Earls
of Kildare. Following the failed uprising of Silken Thomas,
the Fitzgerald heir, this changed and in 1541 Henry declared
himself King of Ireland. And so the semi-autonomous
lordship of Ireland that began with the Anglo-Norman
invasion of 1169 was at an end. Ireland, unlike England
however, had never been completely conquered by the
Anglo-Normans and over the centuries the area under their
Silken Thomas
control had shrunk. By the time of Henry’s reign, English law
did not extend beyond the Pale, that is, Dublin and much of the surrounding counties of
Louth, Meath and Kildare, as well as Anglicised outposts like Carrickfergus, Kilkenny and
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Waterford. The rest of the country was ruled by local Gaelic chiefs, where English authority
was mainly powerless. But this situation was about to change. Henry’s immediate objective
was to subdue the whole country and restored it to good order and obedience, and he hoped to
achieve this through a policy of ‘surrender and regrant’ - this was a strategy whereby Irish
and Anglo-Normans alike would submit to the king’s authority and in return their lands
would be restored and held in future under English law. Later a policy of plantation was
begun under Henry’s eldest daughter, the Catholic Mary Tudor, who in 1553 succeeded to the
throne after Edwards’s short reign. The plantation saw a large part of the midlands (mainly
present-day Offaly and Laois) being granted to English settlers following the failure of the
O’Connor and O’More uprising in 1556 and it set the pattern for the next hundred and fifty
years. It was a policy that proved to be the death knell of the Gaelic system.
Changes in the Church in Ireland
The cultural and political divide which existed in the country between the Gaelic and
Anglicised areas was reflected in how the church operated. In the Gaelic areas, despite the
organisation of the country into dioceses in the 12th century, individual churches remained
closely associated with the local chiefs; in contrast, in the Anglicised areas these were
structured on a diocesan basis with bishops in some cases appointed by the king himself.
Dublin, Meath and Armagh, for instance, had mostly English-men appointed as bishops but
within these dioceses there was a stark division between areas under Gaelic control and those
loyal to the English administration. The most Gaelic province in the country was Ulster with
only Carrickfergus and Newry and their immediate vicinities loyal to the Dublin
administration. In the Archdiocese of Armagh, for instance, English appointed bishops had
little understanding of the language or traditions of most of their flock.
Much of the Archdiocese of Dublin was also outside
the Pale. West Wicklow, for example, which included
the modern-day parish of Blessington, was on the
marches, a border area between the Gaelic O’Toole
and O’Byrne territories of Wicklow and the AngloNorman Pale, and it is unlikely that a Dublin-based
English archbishop held much sway over its
inhabitants. In addition, many appointees to the See of
Dublin also held the civil position of Lord Chancellor,
which further distanced them from the vast majority of
the people. Prominent archbishops in Dublin during
Threecastles towerhouse, built by the Lord
Deputy, Gearoid Mór Fitzgerald (1456-1514) to Henry’s reign were Hugh Inge, John Alen and George
defend the Pale.
Browne. Both Inge and Alen had come to the notice of
Henry’s chief minister, Cardinal Wolsey. Inge’s first
appointment in Ireland was in 1512 when he became Bishop of Meath. A decade later he
transferred to Dublin as Archbishop and for a period before his death in 1528, he also held the
position of Lord Chancellor. His successor, John Alen also held both positions. Alen, however,
came to an untimely end – he was murdered in 1534 by one of Fitzgerald’s followers during
the Silken Thomas revolt because of his association with Wolsey, who was an avowed enemy
of the Earl.
The king himself selected the next appointment to fill the vacancy left by the murder of John
Alen. He was George Browne, previously an Augustinian friar, who was consecrated
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Archbishop of Dublin in 1536 by Thomas Cranmer, the Archbishop of Canterbury and a
major leader of the Reformation in England. Browne is generally recognised as the first
Protestant Archbishop of Dublin and like his predecessors, he held the position of Lord
Chancellor. He was one of Henry’s key supporters in Ireland but his efforts to have the king
accepted as head of the church met with strong opposition from the clergy in the Dublin
Archdiocese. This did not stop him implementing one of Henry’s key policies, namely the
suppression of the monasteries and the transfer of
their wealth to the exchequer. The king’s
commissioners who undertook the task of confiscating
valuables from the monasteries were forced to confine
themselves to that part of the country where they felt
safe to travel, namely Anglo-Norman areas in Leinster
and Munsteri. The value of the items the
commissioners confiscated was modest and contrasted
sharply with England. For example, the Cathedral in
Old Leighlin in Carlow yielded £13 6s; the Parish
Jerpoint Abbey, suppressed under Henry VIII
Church of St Brigid in Kildare £6 4s, while the Priory
of Kilmainham, the building of which was described as spacious and very elegant and was
used afterwards as the residence of the Lord
Deputy, yielded only £1 6s. The reason for this
modest haul may be that religious objects had been
hidden by the monks but it is also possible that
devotional images found in churches in Ireland
had little material value, being mostly made of
wood or stone. What was greatly lamented by the
ordinary people was the wanton destruction of
revered relics, such as, St Patrick’s crozier,
allegedly the Bachal Iosa (Staff of Jesus), which
had been held in Christ Church in Dublin, and the
Holy Cross of Ballyboggan, Co Meathiiboth of
Chapter House, St Mary's Abbey, off Capel St, all
that remains of one of Dublin's finest medieval
which had attracted many pilgrims throughout the
monasteries.
medieval period.
Hand in hand with the suppression of the monasteries and the confiscation of their wealth
was the transfer of church land to new owners. The monastic estates were now broken up and
there was no shortage of people eager to benefit. Among those who sought monastic property
was the Archbishop, George Browne, but he was unsuccessful in acquiring the Franciscan
Friary of New Abbey between present-day Ballymore Eustace and Kilcullen. It was granted
instead to Thomas Eustaceiii, 1st Viscount Baltinglass, on the grounds that the property was
strategically positioned on the edge of the Pale which Eustace was in a better position to
defend. The Eustace family were among the Anglo-Norman class who significantly
benefitted from the dissolution of the monasteries. Other new English officials and their
families were more successful that Archbishop Browne: at Kilbride in west Wicklow the
Anglo-Norman church along with a considerable amount of land, formerly the property of the
Knights Hospitallers at Kilteel, was transferred in 1540 to Thomas Alen, a brother of the
Lord Chancellor and kinsman of the former archbishop. Thomas Alen also acquired the lands
of St Wolstan’s Abbey in Celbridge at the same time.
Although there were no major change in Catholic doctrine until after Henry’s death in 1547,
nonetheless a few influential people in England were receptive to the more radical reforms
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advocated on the continent by Luther and Calvin – for instance, Thomas Cranmer and George
Browne were enthusiastic supporters for a new Protestant liturgy. And with the accession of
Henry’s nine year old son, Edward VI, Protestantism became the established religion in
England. The reforms saw radical new changes – the Book of Common Prayer replaced the
Mass, the use of the vernacular was brought in instead of Latin and married clergy were
officially allowed.
Reform and Resistance
On Easter Sunday 1550, Archbishop Brown introduced the new liturgy into Christ Church
Cathedral. But there was little enthusiasm for change. Opposition was strong among the
clergy and the people of Dublin city, and it was only in churches in the immediate vicinity of
the Castle, the bastion of English rule in the country, that the new liturgy was adopted. In the
country generally many of the gentry remained Catholic as did most of the leading families in
Anglicised towns, such as Wexford and Waterford. Indeed two successive Lord Deputies,
Grey and St Leger, conscious of the unsettled political situation and the need not to stir up
trouble in the country, advised against introducing reform too quickly.
Edward’s reign lasted only five years and there was a short respite
for Catholics under the new monarch, Henry’s eldest daughter, Mary
Tudor, sometimes remembered as ‘Bloody Mary’ because of the
number of Protestants she had executed. Two of these martyrs,
Nicholas Ridley and Hugh Latimer were burnt at the stake in Oxford
in 1555 and are commemorated in a stained glass window in St
John’s Church of Ireland, Cloghleagh. The window was erected by
Isabella Fitzmaurice Pratt of Glenhest, Manor Kilbride, a descendent
of the Ridley family. Ridley and Latimer along with Archbishop
Cranmer, who was executed in March 1556, are known as the Oxford
martyrs.
Memorial window in St John's
Church, Cloghleagh with the
inscription: ‘16th Oct 1555. Died at
the stake in Oxford my mother's
ancestor Bishop Ridley and his
friend Bishop Latimer’.
With the accession of Mary’s half-sister, Elizabeth, in 1558,
Protestantism once again became the state religion. The new religious
reforms, however, continued to make little progress in Ireland: the
clergy were said to be badly educated and in short supply and
parishes had little income. In 1566, the Lord Deputy, Sir Henry
Sidney, noted that even within the Pale parishes lacked curates
while church buildings were universally in ruin. In the 1570s, the
Protestant Bishop of Meath, Hugh Brady, reported ‘the verie walls
of the churches down, very few chancels covered, windows and
doors ruined or spoiled’.(Moss, 204)
The majority of people in the country remained Catholic and
alongside the new official religion an underground church
developed. Throughout the country, the Catholic gentry and
merchants who had always endowed their local churches now
Elizabeth 1
opened their homes as places of worship. They also sheltered and
supported priests as did, for instance, the Talbots of Malahide and Mabel Browne in Kildare.
The latter, the wife of the 11th Earl of Kildare, was a member of a noted English Catholic
aristocratic family who harboured prominent priests in her home at Kilkea Castle near
Castledermot.
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Initially, the main trust of Elizabeth’s administration in Ireland was political, to subdue the
country and to have the Gaelic chiefs submit to English rule. Until this was achieved it was
deemed unwise to force religious change. All persons holding public office including
bishops, however, were obliged to take the Act of Supremacy acknowledging Elizabeth as
head of the church. And this put pressure on the bishops to declare their hand. When the Irish
Parliament met in 1560, two bishops, Walsh of Meath and Leverous of Kildare, refused to
take the Oath and thereby lost their Sees. Seven bishops who took the Oath appeared to
conform – Bishop Devereux of Ferns, the last abbot of Dunbrody Abbey, stated that while he
much preferred to be a Catholic he did not wish to lose his See. But it would seem that the
majority of the bishops while outwardly conforming remained Catholic at heart. At the close
of Parliament that year it was said that ‘most of the bishops left the city rather quickly’
(Corish, 91), no doubt feeling safer when removed from the eye of the authorities. This
ambiguity with regard to the implementation of the new reforms was a feature throughout the
early part of Elizabeth’s reign. The political situation was changing, however, and this
ambiguity was not to last.
Desmond Rebellion and Its Aftermath
When Henry VIII put aside Catherine of Aragon to marry Anne Boleyn he antagonised not
only the Pope but Catherine’s nephew, the Holy Roman Emperor, Charles V. Thereafter
Catholic Ireland had become a security risk and this became a major issue under Elizabeth
when the Anglo-Norman Desmond family in Munster revolted against the encroachment of
the London administration. The uprising, known as the Desmond Rebellion (1569-73; 15791583) took on a religious dimension when their leader, James Fitzmaurice, appealed to the
Pope for assistance. An alarming situation was further exacerbated when James Eustace, 3rd
Viscout Baltinglassiv, a devout Catholic, assisted by the Wicklow chief, Fiach Mac Hugh
O’Byrne spread the rebellion to Leinster, almost to the very heart of English administration in
Ireland. With the rebels expecting support from Catholic Europe, Elizabeth’s armies
retaliated with brute force: a scorched-earth policy was adopted resulting in great numbers of
men, women and children perishing as famine stalked the land. A papal force of Spanish and
Italians who landed at Smerwich Harbour in Kerry in 1580 was mercilessly butcheredv. After
the defeat of the Desmonds, their land was confiscated and given to loyal English colonists.vi
A new factor now entered the equation: the most recent settlers, ambitious young men
wishing to forward their careers, were Protestant and it was this new wave of people who
pushed the reform movement in Ireland. For example, Adam Loftusvii, originally came to
Ireland around 1560 as chaplain to the Lord
Lieutenant, the Earl of Sussex, but within a
short time was appointed Bishop of Kildare
and in 1563 at the age of 28 was created
archbishop of Armagh. Four years later he was
appointed to the See of Dublin and in 1581
was made Lord Chancellor. Under Loftus, the
reform movement was given a new impetus
and he played a key role in establishing
Trinity College, which he regarded as
necessary for the education of reformed
Rathfarnham Castle built by Archbishop Loftus
clergy.
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Catholic Martyrs
In the aftermath of the Desmond Rebellion, a series of oppressive measures was directed at
Catholic priests and bishops and especially those newly returned from the continent.
Historian, Marianne Elliott, believes the harshness of these measures were ‘gratuitous acts by
those in power in Ireland rather than policy developed in London’. It was at this time that the
first Catholic martyrs were created, as for instance, Margaret Ball of Dublin and Archbishop
Dermot O’Hurley of Cashelviii. Margaret Ball, the widow of a Dublin Alderman, sheltered
and supported priests and in doing so provoked the ire of her son, Walter, the mayor of
Dublin who had conformed. In 1580, he had her arrested and paraded through the city streets.
She spent the next three years imprisoned in Dublin Castle where she died at the age of 70.
The execution of Archbishop Dermot O’Hurley took place in Dublin Castle around the same
time as Margaret Ball’s death. He was born in Limerick around 1530 into a prominent Gaelic
family and taught for many years in various universities on the continent until finally he was
appointed Archbishop of Cashel by Pope Gregory XII. In 1583, he returned clandestinely and
after landing in north Dublin made his way to Slane Castle, the home of Thomas Fleming,
10th Baron Slane, where he stayed for some time. One evening he unintentionally revealed his
identity to a fellow guest, who happened to be a government official, who reported him to the
authorities in Dublin. The Baron was ordered to arrest O’Hurley which he duly did. The
Archbishop was imprisoned in Dublin Castle and accused of conspiring against the Queen
and her government. He was tortured and following an arbitrary trial, was hanged on Hoggen
Green in Dublin (now College Green). His body was later taken by a group of devout people
and buried in a graveyard in Kevin St where it became a popular place of pilgrimage for
many years.
End of the Gaelic Order
Ten years after the Desmond Rebellion another major insurrection
took place, this time in Ulster. The revolt known as the Nine
Years War was led by the English educated Hugh O’Neill, Earl of
Tyrone, who until then was believed to be a trusted servant of the
queen. His chief ally was Red Hugh O’Donnell, Earl of
Tirconnell who had escaped from Dublin Castle some time
previously and in the dead of winter had made his way to
Glenmalure and the protection of Fiach Mac Hugh O’Byrne. His
companion, Art O’Neill, however, died in the Wicklow mountains
and is commemorated by a cross on the slopes above the King’s
River Valley.
Like the Desmonds in Munster, O’Neill and O’Donnell appealed
Hugh O'Neill, Earl of Tyrone
for assistance from Spain, arguing that they were waging a war to
win ‘Catholic liberty’ and to free Ireland ‘from the rod of
tyrannical evil’ (Bardon, 98). Soon most of the country was engulfed by the war. Despite
initial success by the rebels at the Battle of the Yellow Ford, defeat eventually came when
O’Neill and O’Donnell marched south to relieve a Spanish force which had landed at
Kinsale. What followed was a disaster for the Irish cause and led ultimately to the Flight of
the Earls and the Ulster Plantation. It was the effective end of the Gaelic order. And with the
shiring of Wicklow in 1606, English rule was now extending to all parts of Ireland.
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Catholic Revival
A major effect of the Desmond Rebellion and the
Nine Years War was that the lines of demarcation
between the new religious practices and the old
became more fixed and people could no longer fudge
their belief. Above all it became clear that Ireland
would not become completely Protestant. A Catholic
revival in Europe spear-headed by the CounterReformation, which had begun earlier with the
Council of Trent, was now well in place. Young
Catholic men from the wealthy mercantile and gentry
class were now going to Europe to be educated –
Irish College, Salamanca
even as early as 1562 the government was perturbed
by the number leaving for abroad. New colleges and
seminaries catering for Irish émigrés were springing up on the continent – the Irish College at
Salamanca in Spain was established in 1592 the same year as the foundation of Trinity
College in Dublin. Similar colleges were established at Douai in France and Leuven in
Belgium in 1603 and 1606 respectively. When the newly ordained priests returned home,
they tended to stay close to their families where they
were assured of a support network. A good example
from this period was the home of Robert Walsh and
Anastasia Strong, both from prominent Waterford
families, who were closely related to a number of
priests. According to Robert’s nephew, the
Franciscan Luke Wadding, Anastasia ‘kept her house
continuously open for clerics, poor students and
pilgrims, to whom she gave lodging in her great
charity’. According to another contemporary source,
she
did so at the risk of losing all she possessed
Entrance to Irish College Lueven. The Irish
(Hensey, 143). The Roche family from New Ross,
inscription translates as ‘for the honour of God
and glory of Ireland’
likewise, were a strong Catholic family; in the 1620s
one son was Bishop of Ferns while another was the Vicar-Apostolic of Leighlin, and William
Barry, a Kildare cleric, reported that their mother, Joan, opened her home to priests.
Another feature of the Catholic revival was the restructuring of dioceses although this
proceeded at a cautious pace. Initially there had been some confusion regarding the loyalty of
particular bishops to Rome following the introduction of the reformed liturgy. But as
vacancies occurred following the death of an incumbent they were filled often by members of
religious orders, many of whom had remained in the country. In this the authorities in Rome
were assisted by Fr David Wolfe, a noted Counter Reformation Jesuit priest, who was made
Apostolic Nuncio to Ireland in 1560, with a brief to report on the state of the country as well
as to recommend suitable candidates for bishoprics. Further appointments to vacant Sees
were made in the next two decades but the life of a Catholic bishop was a hazardous one –
they were constantly on the run, harassed by the authorities and always fearful of arrest.
These difficulties intensified in times of conflict, as for instance during the Desmond
Rebellion and the Nine Years War. Some bishops paid the ultimate penalty and were
executed, as we saw with regard to the newly appointed Archbishop of Cashel, Dermot
O’Hurley. Others were imprisoned for long periods while more fled to exile on the continent.
The Papal Nuncio, Fr Wolfe, is a case in point: from the time of his arrival into the country
his every move was watched until eventually he was arrested and imprisoned in Dublin
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Castle from where he made his escape and returned to Rome in 1567. In time, Rome deemed
it more prudent not to appoint bishops to vacant Sees but to assign priests, known as vicarsapostolic, to oversee the running of dioceses. In cases where a bishop was in exile such a
priest was known as a vicar-general. John White, who served as vicar-apostolic in Waterford
and Lismore diocese between 1578 and 1600, was described by a government official as ‘an
arrogant enemy to the gospel, and one that denieth all duties to her Majesty’. Among the
ordinary people of Kilkenny, Waterford and Clonmel, however, White was ‘worshipped like
a god’ (Hensey, 261). The situation whereby dioceses were run by vicars-apostolic continued
into the 17th century.
On the death of Elizabeth in 1603, the Stuart James 1 came to the
throne. There was an expectation, initially, that his reign might
ease the situation for Catholics but this hope was short lived.
Following the discovery in 1605 of the Gunpowder Plot, an
alleged Catholic conspiracy to blow up the House of Parliament
in London, there was a period of repression. Despite this the
authorities in Rome were sufficiently optimistic to recommence
appointing bishops. And so in 1611, Eugene Matthews became
the first resident archbishop of Dublin. But the situation for
Catholic clergy remained far from easy as is evidenced in a letter
written to Rome in 1609 by David Kearney, Archbishop of
Cashel: ‘As for us ecclesiastics, being always encompassed with
James 1
dangers, we imitate the skilful seaman, who, when the tempest
threatens, draws in the sails, and unfurls them on the return of calm’ (Hensey, 270).
A provincial synod was held in 1587 in the diocese of Clogher, which was attended by seven
bishops, six from Ulster and one from Connaught, as well as a great number of ordinary
clergy. That a synod could be held in Clogher in relative safety at this time was due to its
situation in a part of the country which remained under the control of the Gaelic chiefs –
although this was to change in the following decade as a result of the Nine Years War. The
synod discussed how the diocese might restructure itself in the light of the recommendations
of the Council of Trent.
In the early decades of the following century, renewed efforts to restructure the church saw
no less than nine synods convened between 1606 and 1632, six in the Archdiocese of Cashel
and the remainder in Dublin. In June 1614, for example, three years after his appointment to
Dublin, Eugene Matthews held a synod. It took place not in the capital city, but in Kilkenny
and was attended by the vicars-apostolic of all the suffragan dioceses, David Rothe of
Ossory, Luke Archer of Leighlin and Daniel O’Druhan of Ferns. The synod stressed that a
major responsibility of a priest was to ‘know his people and be an example to them in word
and in work; to preach to them and instruct them in the faith; and to administer the
sacraments’ (Hensey, 272). Because of the takeover of most churches by the new religion, the
synod affirmed the central role in the life of the parish of private houses that were used for
the celebration of Mass and the sacraments. Later synods laid down guidelines for the
celebration of Mass outdoors, emphasising that this should take place with due reverence,
using linen altar cloths and at least one wax candle, while the altar itself should be protected
from the wind and rain.
As was the case with bishops, there was also uncertainty in the immediate aftermath of the
Reformation regarding the loyalty of individual priests. Many priests who stayed on in their
parishes remained faithful and risked flouting the law by not changing over to the reformed
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liturgy, perhaps sometimes in the hope that a very volatile situation would eventually settle
down. Indeed up to the excommunication of Elizabeth in 1570, Rome itself had hoped a
reconciliation could be worked out with the reformers. But this was not to be. Religious
orders, like the Franciscans and Dominicans, were far more numerous on the ground than
were secular priests and they continued to give spiritual care to the people for many decades.
Three Franciscans, John O’Mulloy, Cornelius Dougherty and Calfrid Farrell, for example,
who were executed in Abbelyleix around 1588, had spent the previous eight years travelling
and administering the sacraments throughout Wicklow, Carlow and Wexford.
By the beginning of the 17th century, newly ordained men were returning from the continent
and the number of secular clerics greatly increased. And so by 1623 it was estimated that
there were upwards of 1,200 priests in the country: 800 diocesan, 200 Franciscans and 200
belonging to other religious orders. Historian, Raymond Gillespie, gives the figure for the
Archdiocese of Dublin ten years later as 90 priests; 10 secular with the remainder belonging
to religious orders. With regard to the religious orders, the Franciscans or friars had always
been associated with the Gaelic parts of the countryside. Unlike the Cistercian and the
Augustinian orders, the Franciscans never owned large tracts of land and were noted for their
austere and simple way of life. For centuries they had looked after the spiritual and temporal
needs of the people and they were to the fore in the restructuring of Catholicism in Ireland.
Case-study: the Return of the Franciscans to Drogheda
A good example of the Catholic revival is the following account of the return of the
Franciscans to Drogheda recorded between 1617 and 1618 by the provincial of the order, Fr
Donatus Mooney. Four friars came back to Drogheda around 1610 to find the church and
other buildings associated with the monastery all ruined by Elizabeth’s armies during the
Nine Years War. Nothing survived, ‘all writings, tablets and monuments’ had passed into
other hands or were destroyed and the site was given to new owners (Murray, 277). This was
now in the possession of Moyses Hill, the founder of the Downshire dynasty associated with
Blessingtonix, who according to Fr Mooney was ‘an inveterate hater of the friars and their
religion’. Hill intended building a mansion on the site for the viceroy, Arthur Chichester, in
the hope that his ‘presence might overawe the people of Drogheda and deter them in the
practice of their religion’(Murray, 277). But bad luck was traditionally believed to follow
those who acquired church property and this was said to be the case with regard to Hill.
Various misfortunes befell him and he abandoned his plans for the site.
The four Franciscans who returned to Drogheda lived in rented accommodation – each had
their own cell while they used a common room for meals and other activities. A room had
been fitted out as an oratory for the benefit of their parishioners. It consisted of an altar with a
choir behind it, a pulpit and seats for confession and the people were said to frequently
receive the sacraments of Penance and the Eucharist. The friars preached openly on Sundays
and holydays and appeared to have been tolerated by the authorities. They wore the habit of
the order when indoors but changed into ordinary clothes when out and about. The four
Franciscans were not the only clergy in the area – a number of secular priests also looked
after the needs of the people, saying Mass in various private houses in the town, but they
were more circumspect in their movements. Fr Mooney’s impression was that the fearless
attitude of the friars inspired and gave courage to the secular clergy who now also moved
more openly about the town.
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There was still good reason, however, to fear the authorities:
since the return of the friars, the monastery had been raided
twice. During the first raid altar vessels were seized but
despite this Mass was celebrated as usual the following day.
The second raid was more dramatic: the celebrant, Fr
Haelan, an elderly priest noted for ‘his gentle, innocent and
deeply religious character’, had just finished Mass when he
was summarily arrested (Murray, 277). But the other friars
escaped by using a secret passage into a neighbouring
19th Century Franciscan Church in
Drogheda, built on site of the Medieval house. The women of the town, however, incensed by what
Friary
had happened, threw stones and clubs at those arresting the
friar and rescued him. But he feared that the authorities
would bring the fury of the viceroy on the people and gave himself up. He was brought to
Dublin and arraigned before the Lord Chancellor and spent six months in jail before being
released. On the same day two other clergy were also apprehended: one was wearing secular
clothing and the people successfully secured his release by saying he was a merchant from
Cork, while the other was initially treated harshly but when it was ascertained he was of
Scotch extraction he was allowed his freedom.
This report by Fr Mooney of conditions in Drogheda probably reflects the situation for priests
in the country as a whole in the opening decades of the 17th century. The Catholic Church in
Ireland had begun to tentatively show a public face again after a half century of conflict and
suppression. There was a hope that the situation for Catholics was improving. But this hope
was short lived: within a few decades the country would once again be engulfed in a bloody
uprising, to be followed by the cruellest period of all – the Cromwellian era.
Notes
i
The areas were in the present-day counties of Carlow, Cork, Kildare, Kilkenny, Limerick, Louth, Meath and Westmeath,
Tipperary, Waterford and Wexford.
ii
The Cross of Ballyboggan was held in the Augustinian Priory of De Laude Dei, founded in the 12th century by Jordan
Comyn, presumable a relation of Archbishop John Comyn who was associated with Blessington (see Chapter 3, AngloNormans).
iii
New Abbey was among the properties which were later forfeited by Thomas Eustace’s grandson, James, following his illfated rebellion (see following section on Desmond Rebellion and Its Aftermath) and the property was then given to the poet,
Edmund Spenser, who originally came to Ireland as secretary to the Lord Deputy, Arthur Grey, and was granted estates in
Munster following the Desmond Rebellion.
iv
Viscount Baltinglass was married to Mary Travers who inherited Monkstown Castle, which was used for clandestine
meetings by her husband and the other conspirators at this time. The castle and lands attached to it werelater inherited by the
Cheevers family from whom it was acquired by Archbishop Michael Boyle at the time he obtained the Blessington estate.
v
Remnants of this force are said to have made it to Naas where they were massacred at a site traditionally known as Fód
Spáinneach.
vi
Blessington’s founder, Archbishop Michael Boyle’s family was among the new English who profited by the Desmond
rebellion and subsequent plantation. Michael Boyle’s cousin, Richard Boyle, came to Ireland to settle legal entitlements to
the land in the aftermath of the rebellion. He subsequently acquired large tracts of land and became one of the greatest
benefactors of the Munster Plantation.
vii
Adam Loftus later acquired a large estate in south Dublin on which he built Rathfarnham Castle. The estate was also part
of the lands forfeited by James Eustace, Viscount Baltinglass following the failure of his rebellion.
viii
In 1992, Pope John Paul II beatified seventeen Irish Catholic martyrs. These were a representative group chosen from a
list of almost three hundred who died for their faith in the 16th and 17th centuries. Of the seventeen beatified, nine were
executed in the six year period between 1579 and 1585.
ix
Moyses Hill arrived in Ireland in the 1570s and fought with the Earl of Essex and later with Mountjoy in their campaigns
against the O’Neills. He subsequently acquired land near Larne which the family later added to, making them one of the
largest landowners in the country. The family subsequently acquired titles, including Marquis of Downshire. In 1778 they
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inherited the Blessington estate by virtue of the marriage, almost a century earlier, of Eleanor Boyle, daughter of Michael
Boyle, Blessington’s founder, to William Hill of Hillsborough, a descendent of Moyses Hill.
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© Kathy Trant
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